farewell phoenix: the language of landscapes / muses CS

“The Language of Landscapes / Muses” is part devotional piece, part documentation of moving to my new home in Sandy Mush, NC, in Madison County, after being displaced by Hurricane Helene. It's so beautiful out here with its meadows, rolling hills, broken barn, pink trees, three-legged dogs, and curious deer. During this time, I often isolated myself and spent time learning a new instrument (a small harp)—frequently processing it with modular synthesis—in between art/music residencies in Asheville. The field recordings were all captured around Sandy Mush, starting from April 2025 onward. Most of these were recorded by me, but the cicada recordings are by Christopher Fleeger. The harp and voice recordings began at the same time as well, giving a double-exposed snapshot or sonic collage of the past year. It all started with a seventeen-year cicada brood emerging from the earth. Although they are fairly quiet on this album, they were anything but during this time. I think this album shows a drive to return to a more minimal approach to my art and music—and to create something that felt less alien, but still alienated. Toward the end of the album, I also recorded at Ritual Botanica, a mystical apothecary in Woodfin, NC. Throughout the album, I layered some improv recording sessions (featuring harp, voice, and modular synth) with the field recordings taken from this usually incredibly quiet, pastoral place where I live. I hope this album feels like learning a new language, the stutter of words you don't understand, the nostalgia of falling in love with a new landscape, a hushed looped memory, a watercolor painting, the book Dictée by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha.”